Studies of elastin coacervation by quasielastic light scattering

Abstract

The coacervation behaviour of elastin appears to be an example of a mixed coacervation, intermediate between the classes of unicomplex and simple coacervations defined by Bungenberg de Jong. Studies of the angular and temperature dependence of the Rayleigh spectrum of the light scattered by aqueous solutions of tropoelastin are reported. Analysis of these data permit a thermodynamic interpretation of tropoelastin coacervation based on the theoretical model of Veis and Aranyi.

Above the coacervation temperature, the kinetic analysis of change in volume of coacervate drops, determined from the change in diffusion coefficient with time, indicates a nucleation-controlled growth process rather than a simple coalescence phenomenon. The implications of these results for current theories of elastin structure are discussed.